The Hindu 17.09.2013
“Mosquito Terminator” to check breeding near railway tracks
Two weeks after a domestic breeding checker lost his
life to dengue, Northern Railway and the South Delhi Municipal
Corporation have come together to prevent mosquito breeding in order to
curb the deadly disease.
They have started a special
train called the “Mosquito Terminator” to check breeding in water bodies
along the tracks in Delhi for the safety of rail passengers and the
people living along the tracks.
The “Mosquito Terminator” has a truck-mounted power sprayer which sprays larvicide along the railway tracks.
The
train will pass through Sarai Rohilla, Patel Nagar, Safdarjung,
Kishanganj, Lajpat Nagar, Hazrat Nizamuddin, Adarsh Nagar, Rathdhana,
Shahdara, Palam and Gurgaon.
The train has a low and flat surface so that a truck or any other vehicle can be mounted on it.
The
spraying will be completed in four rounds in September and October,
coinciding with the time when dengue and other vector-borne disease are
at their peak.
“A large number of people live near
the tracks, particularly in jhuggi-jhopri clusters, and it is not
possible to cover large tracks manually. It is very important for us to
deal with the breeding grounds of dengue in and around these tracks
because people staying nearby are exposed to Aedes and other types of
mosquitoes, leading to a comparatively higher incidence of dengue and
malaria,” said a senior health officer from the South Delhi Municipal
Corporation.
Civic body officials said Railways will
run the train regularly as part of the efforts to fight the spread of
vector-borne diseases.
